Trippy, ENERGETIC, Electronic Layers on Layers on Layers

Baltimore based Dan Deacon‰’s album Gliss Riffer is the musical incarnation of exuberant, endless energy. Deacon uses seemingly infinite layers in every song to create a depth in which listeners can fully immerse themselves—it feels as though we could almost fall into his sea of sounds and swim around in the bouncing, vibrant colors. Lacking a heavy downbeat in virtually every song, Deacon passes his frenetic energy to listeners as they scramble to tap their foot in time with all the sounds flowing into them. The energetic “Learning to Relax‰” (irony) is a good summary of the record, with intense stamina and trippy vocals floating gracefully overtop of the vivacious electronic currents. Discordant “Meme Generator‰” feels very cut-and-paste, but uses sweeping vocals and synth to counterbalance the staccato assertions. “Steely Blues‰” is the perfect outro for the tireless album, with a slow buildup of layers resulting in a chaotic climax of noise, which slowly fades away into quiet nothingness.

RIYL: Panda Bear, Animal Collective (Strawberry Jam era), tUnE-yArDs

Recommended: 2, 3, 4, 6